When most people are out hunting for jobs after college, they don’t immediately think of applying somewhere in Iowa. And yet, for my sister, Mehnaz Afrin, that soon became the reality as she moved to the Hawkeye state in March of 2019.
Earlier this year, she moved back “home” to Kansas. Asked to compare the two states, she dives right in:
“Landscape-wise it’s not too different. But I guess [Cedar Rapids] was uphill and downhill, and Kansas is pretty flat, I think.”
Physical differences aside, what did she think of the people in both states?
[Dishwasher roars in background]
“I think in Kansas people are more warm. When I was in Salina, during my college years, a stranger would stop by and say “hello”. In Iowa I did not face it that much. But in Kansas everybody will stop and say hello.”
And finally, the questions gets posed. Would she rather live in Iowa than Kansas?
“It depends. For me, personally, my job was excellent. But I didn’t have my family with me, so it was not that great. But if I had my family with me, it probably wouldn’t be that bad.”
SLU Journalism Class 